"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with
their own government. Whenever things get so far wrong as to
attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to
rights." - Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789

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18 September 2007

See, I told you privacy was dead! But no, you had to hear it from the NSA:

Washington D.C., September 14, 2007 - Today the National Security Archive publishes a collection of documents concerning the use of U.S. reconnaissance satellites to collect data on targets within the United States over the last four decades. This new publication follows the August 15, 2007, revelation in the Wall Street Journal that the United States is planning to expand the use of reconnaissance satellites over the United States in support of civil agencies (those outside of the Defense Department and Intelligence Community) in response to recommendations by an independent study group.

Obtained primarily through the Freedom of Information Act and archival research, the declassified documents published today describe a number of uses for which U.S. reconnaissance satellites have been employed, including evaluation of satellite performance, mapping, disaster relief, and assistance to Environmental Protection Agency investigations.

What I find most interesting is the subtle way that transparency activists and privacy activists are seeing common ground. Sure, this happened with the Privacy Act, but the PA only served to perpetuate the illusion of privacy.

See, I told you privacy was dead! But no, you had to hear it from the NSA:

Washington D.C., September 14, 2007 - Today the National Security Archive publishes a collection of documents concerning the use of U.S. reconnaissance satellites to collect data on targets within the United States over the last four decades. This new publication follows the August 15, 2007, revelation in the Wall Street Journal that the United States is planning to expand the use of reconnaissance satellites over the United States in support of civil agencies (those outside of the Defense Department and Intelligence Community) in response to recommendations by an independent study group.

Obtained primarily through the Freedom of Information Act and archival research, the declassified documents published today describe a number of uses for which U.S. reconnaissance satellites have been employed, including evaluation of satellite performance, mapping, disaster relief, and assistance to Environmental Protection Agency investigations.

What I find most interesting is the subtle way that transparency activists and privacy activists are seeing common ground. Sure, this happened with the Privacy Act, but the PA only served to perpetuate the illusion of privacy.